Benedict Speaks at Auschwitz

 

As I’ve blogged recently, I’ve re-read Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” and I’ve spoken with an aging veteran about the liberation at Buchenwald.  Pope Benedict XVI has recently visited Auschwitz and I’ve linked his statements as posted on the Vatican website.  I think that any serious consideration of this and other concentration camps, in which millions of innocents were murdered, evokes some thought as to how an all powerful and all loving God could permit such tragedy.  Here is what the Pope says:

We cannot peer into God’s mysterious plan – we see only piecemeal, and we would be wrong to set ourselves up as judges of God and history. Then we would not be defending man, but only contributing to his downfall. No – when all is said and done, we must continue to cry out humbly yet insistently to God: Rouse yourself! Do not forget mankind, your creature! And our cry to God must also be a cry that pierces our very heart, a cry that awakens within us God’s hidden presence – so that his power, the power he has planted in our hearts, will not be buried or choked within us by the mire of selfishness, pusillanimity, indifference or opportunism. Let us cry out to God, with all our hearts, at the present hour, when new misfortunes befall us, when all the forces of darkness seem to issue anew from human hearts: whether it is the abuse of God’s name as a means of justifying senseless violence against innocent persons, or the cynicism which refuses to acknowledge God and ridicules faith in him. Let us cry out to God, that he may draw men and women to conversion and help them to see that violence does not bring peace, but only generates more violence – a morass of devastation in which everyone is ultimately the loser. The God in whom we believe is a God of reason – a reason, to be sure, which is not a kind of cold mathematics of the universe, but is one with love and with goodness. We make our prayer to God and we appeal to humanity, that this reason, the logic of love and the recognition of the power of reconciliation and peace, may prevail over the threats arising from irrationalism or from a spurious and godless reason.

And he goes on:

The rulers of the Third Reich wanted to crush the entire Jewish people, to cancel it from the register of the peoples of the earth. Thus the words of the Psalm: “We are being killed, accounted as sheep for the slaughter” were fulfilled in a terrifying way. Deep down, those vicious criminals, by wiping out this people, wanted to kill the God who called Abraham, who spoke on Sinai and laid down principles to serve as a guide for mankind, principles that are eternally valid. If this people, by its very existence, was a witness to the God who spoke to humanity and took us to himself, then that God finally had to die and power had to belong to man alone – to those men, who thought that by force they had made themselves masters of the world. By destroying Israel, by the Shoah, they ultimately wanted to tear up the taproot of the Christian faith and to replace it with a faith of their own invention: faith in the rule of man, the rule of the powerful.[emphasis mine]

This statement provides additional insight into the evil of the Holocaust.  The evil is one which seeks to destroy God in the hearts of man, both Jew and Christian.  The Jews were the object of this evil to large degree, but the ultimate aim was (and for those who continue this hatred, is) the destruction of God from the human heart.

Sandro Magister at www.chiesa has more on the Holy Father’s visit.

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A Memorial Day Tribute

 

I love to speak with my patients about their lives and am always attentive to military veterans of the WW II era.  I adore these men (and women.)

I had the privilege of meeting several men this week who served in the war against the Nazis.  One gentleman was a paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division who dropped into Nazi occupied France in June 1944.  He and his buddies dropped near Ste Mere-Eglise after exiting their plane which was traveling at a speed that made the jump hazardous.  Many of the men carried weapons and supplies on a package tethered to their leg and the jump from the plane at the high speeds stripped the package from their legs leaving them with little more that perhaps a knife to defend themselves from the German troops.  Amazing.

A second gentleman, whom I have seen on a number of occasions, asked me to day if I knew of a place called Buchenwald.  I did.  He told me that he and his company were among the first to liberate Jews from this concentration camp in the spring of 1945.  He told me of the place, the smells and the inmates who rejoiced as they arrived.  He spoke of his disbelief that men could so methodically kill and dispose of men, women and children. He couldn’t believe that those who lived around the camp couldn’t have known what was happening.  We discussed the fact that the whole endeavor required many to cooperate: the architects of the camps, the factories that supplied the crematoriums, those that built the camps, those that sold goods or services to the camps, those who prospered on the slave workers.  And we spoke of some of the righteous who tried to save and protect the Jews.

These are modest men who saved the world from the tyranny of the Nazis.  I thanked both for saving the world and disposing of those who may have subjugated the world if not for their efforts.

The Water is Rising and the Sky is Falling

 

With the opening of Al Gore’s new movie, “Inconvenient Truths,” many of the liberals, particularly those who practice the religion of ecology and earth science, are all worked up.  Consider the reasoned opinions of Dr. Sue Blackmore, and English psychologist.  Here is what she writes:

I know this. The science has been building up for years and is now clear. When sea levels rise further millions will drown, when the deserts grow bigger millions will starve, when the glaciers end their present flood of excess melt water vast cities will become uninhabitable almost overnight. Then what?

But things are not as bleak for our tea sipping neighbors.

Britain looks set to be one of the few places on earth that might remain habitable for some time. If the Gulf stream switches off our climate will cool, offsetting the general warming. We may still have drinking water, be able to grow crops, and lose only a few of our finest cities to the floods. As an island nation we might be able to protect and rehouse our own flood refugees. But what about everyone else? The world will be awash with eco-refugees, desperate to get to anywhere with land and fresh water. What do we do?

Take a look at the good doctor’s photo.  Oh my.

Perhaps the answer is nothing.  We should do nothing.  Seems that in the 1980’s the Earth was cooling so fast that we faced an unending winter that would destroy crops and kill billions.  I guess that the eco-libs were not entirely correct in that calculation but somehow they’ve got themselves straight and we should now destroy our economy and culture to prevent world calamity.  Al Gore thinks global warming is THE issue with which we should most concern ourselves.  Warming is a greater threat than say….millions of murdering Muslims, genocide in Darfur, Iran’s nuclear threat, North Korea and all of the other real problems effecting us.

Consider this from Pete Dupont:

But during these 35 years of growing population, employment, and industrial production, the Environmental Protection Agency reports, the environment has substantially improved. Emissions of the six principal air pollutants have decreased by 53%. Carbon monoxide emissions have dropped from 197 million tons per year to 89 million; nitrogen oxides from 27 million tons to 19 million, and sulfur dioxide from 31 million to 15 million. Particulates are down 80%, and lead emissions have declined by more than 98%.

When it comes to visible environmental improvements, America is also making substantial progress:

• The number of days the city of Los Angeles exceeded the one-hour ozone standard has declined from just under 200 a year in the late 1970s to 27 in 2004.

• The Pacific Research Institute’s Index of Leading Environmental Indicators shows that “U.S. forests expanded by 9.5 million acres between 1990 and 2000.”

• While wetlands were declining at the rate of 500,000 acres a year at midcentury, they “have shown a net gain of about 26,000 acres per year in the past five years,” according to the institute.

• Also according to the institute, “bald eagles, down to fewer than 500 nesting pairs in 1965, are now estimated to number more than 7,500 nesting pairs.

Emotion verses facts and logic.  To give you some idea of Dr. Blackmore’s frame of mind consider some closing remarks that she makes.

Finally, we might decide that civilisation itself is worth preserving. In that case we have to work out what to save and which people would be needed in a drastically reduced population – weighing the value of scientists and musicians against that of politicians, for example – a prospect that does not look at all easy from here. [emphasis mine]

What?  Decide if civilzation is worth saving?  This unfortunately is the nihilistic mindset of many on the fringe left and within eco-lib movements.

God help us all.  Maybe the greatest threat is really liberals with power.

“Bush Lied,” Truth Died

 

We’ve all heard the mantras of the far left concerning the war in Iraq.  For the left, memories of 9/11 have faded and they view all the efforts in securing Iraq and moving Iraq and Afghanistan toward democracy to be unworthy ventures. I’m convinced that the left’s hatred of Bush (notice that the left no longer prints bumper stickers declaring “Hate is not a Family Value”) has blinded them to the fact that we really are at war and there are people who would like to destroy our culture.  If fact, the lefties have repeated the mantras so often that many average and non-partisan citizens think it’s all true.

There is a great op-ed in the Wall Street Journal which presents a coherent analysis of some of these myths. 

Iraqis can participate in three historic elections, pass the most liberal constitution in the Arab world, and form a unity government despite terrorist attacks and provocations. Yet for some critics of the president, these are minor matters. Like swallows to Capistrano, they keep returning to the same allegations–the president misled the country in order to justify the Iraq war; his administration pressured intelligence agencies to bias their judgments; Saddam Hussein turned out to be no threat since he didn’t possess weapons of mass destruction; and helping democracy take root in the Middle East was a postwar rationalization. The problem with these charges is that they are false and can be shown to be so–and yet people continue to believe, and spread, them.

The author Peter Wehner, then goes on to elaborate on each of these liberal myths.  This is one piece to send to your liberal friends and watch their heads explode.

Culture of Corruption Continues for the Democrats

CONFIDENTIAL INTERNAL MEMO

From: Democratic National Committee Board

To: Howard Dean, Chairman DNC

Looks as if our plan to characterize the Republicans as a “Culture of Corruption” will need to be put on hold for now.  First William Jefferson, (D-La) (no not William Jefferson Clinton) will be charged with accepting bribes for influence.  Additionally, there is some information being reported the Robert Torricelli, former Democratic Senator from New Jersey and now Democratic fundraiser may have been involved in “Oil for Food” scandal. Already Allen Mollihan, our ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee member has been forced to step down under allegations of financial misconduct.

So for now, let’s not push this “Culture of Corruption” thing too far.  We’ll get back to you with Plan B.

More PC Nonsense in the Public Schools

 

Here’s anther reason to guard your children from the formation in the public schools.  Michelle Malkin has a post concerning the pandering to Muslims in the public schools while continuing to attempt to deny Christians prayer in school.

Compare and contrast…

In Dallas, a school district strikes the words “In God We Trust” from the photo of an enlarged nickel on a yearbook cover for fear of offending students of differing religions.

In California, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (the one that outlawed the Pledge of Allegiance for its reference to God) approved putting public school students through Muslim role-playing exercises. Investor’s Business Daily reminds us:

In a recent federal decision that got surprisingly little press, even from conservative talk radio, California’s 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it’s OK to put public-school kids through Muslim role-playing exercises, including:

Reciting aloud Muslim prayers that begin with “In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful . . . .”

Memorizing the Muslim profession of faith: “Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger.”

Chanting “Praise be to Allah” in response to teacher prompts.

Professing as “true” the Muslim belief that “The Holy Quran is God’s word.”

Giving up candy and TV to demonstrate Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

Designing prayer rugs, taking an Arabic name and essentially “becoming a Muslim” for two full weeks.

Meanwhile, creeping sharia in the public schools continues apace. Seattle is preparing to consider a proposal to accomodate Muslim student prayers.

Again I say, this is what comes from liberal ideology.  Liberals have this notion that if something makes them feel good (and pandering to Muslims which liberals consider an oppressed minority like women, blacks, Hispanics, homosexuals, etc. makes libs feel real good) then it must be the right thing to do.  How can there be a “strict wall of separation” which the libs like to constantly remind us of and still they support very bad ideas like the ones above?  I know that somehow this makes sense in the liberals’ parallel universe.

For Those Waiting for the Church to Condone Condoms…

 

Here’s a piece from www.chiesa.com regarding the speculation concerning the Church’s position on condom use when one partner is infected with HIV/AIDS.

And the answer is in the negative. Not only does the article make no direct reference to condoms, but it demonstrates that the Church’s activity is directed in an entirely different direction, which can be summed up in the word “chastity.” It maintains that the Church would do nothing but harm if its efforts in combating AIDS “seemed to support promiscuous, excessive, and destructive behavior.”

That this is also Benedict XVI’s thought is beyond all doubt. At the same time as “La Civiltà Cattolica” was publishing its article, the pope referred twice – in addresses on May 11 and 13 – to the encyclical “Humanae Vitae” by Paul VI, describing it as “prophetic and always relevant.”

As for Africa, which is being ravaged by AIDS, it too is among pope Joseph Ratzinger’s foremost thoughts. On a number of occasions, he has expressed his conviction that “the African continent is the Church’s great hope.”

Again, there is but one Truth and the Church is a servant not master of the Truth.

Commencement addresses

 

I was listening to the radio this morning and Bill Bennett was discussing various commencement speakers this year.  He made reference to a speech given by Ted Koppel to the Stanford class in the middle of the Clinton scandal.  I have found the address and linked it here.  It is worth the read.  I’m not a big Koppel fan, but I think that he addresses a number of issues of privacy and morality that we can learn from.  Here are a few of his closing paragraphs:

We will not change what’s wrong with our culture through legislation, or by choosing up sides on the basis of personal popularity or party affiliation. We will change it by small acts of courage and kindness; by recognizing, each of us, his or her own obligation to set a proper example.

Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if, periodically, you fail ­ as you surely will ­ adjust your lives, not the standards.[emphasis mine]

And I think that the last sentence is key.  By our nature, we want to justify our behavior in an attempt to provide for inner peace.  We seek others to aid us in our justification so that our behavior becomes the norm or standard to judge others.  The risk is for the zeitgeist to become the standard of morality.

Night

 

I have just gotten around to reading a new translation of Elie Wiesel’s book, Night.  This is a book that everyone should read at least once.  In the epilogue, Mr Wiesel’s acceptance speech to the Nobel Committee that awarded him the Peace Prize, is published.  It reads in part:

And then I explained to him how naive we were, that the world did know but remained silent.  And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever  human beings endure suffering and humiliation.  We must take sides.  Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.  Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.  Sometimes we must interfere.  When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.

Old and New

 

The modern world lives on its intellectual capital, exploits the prevalent doctrine of the moment in the interest of its heresies; floodlights the universe with a gleam of partial illumination, or darkens the skies with doubt; the Church, who is older and wiser, stores new things and old alike in her treasure-house, and brings them out in their due relation to enrich, permanently, the experience of mankind.

Ronald Knox.  Sermon preached at Blackfriars, Oxford on May 16 1932 at the opening of a solemn triduum to honour St. Albert